Find Your Exercising Happy Place

Find Your Exercising Happy Place

This time of the year when you go to the gym every single cardio machine is taken and when you drive around you see joggers everywhere! This trend makes me both happy and sad – because I know for most of them this dedication to start exercising and get fit will fade until after winter or even until next year January, only because they aren’t experimenting with different forms of exercising.

I always imagine myself going up to them to ask why they are jogging? Have they tried this before as their only exercising method and what was the outcome? Because if you’ve tried jogging as your first go-to exercise each time you want to get fitter and you still aren’t fitter and loving exercise then it might be time to change your strategy.

Jogging is not for everyone. I sure know more people who don’t like running than those who cannot live without it. So why is this the first choice for most people wanting to start exercising? Running isn’t fun when you are not fit – well at least for me! I don’t even particularly like it when I am fit and I promise you if I stuck to trying to get fit through jogging only I would not be in the business I am now. For me and a lot of others, we gained our love for exercising through strength training.

I am not saying that this is true for everyone, but if you are anything like me (who didn’t like to exercise) it might be time for you to consider leaving the jogging for later in your fitness journey and starting off with something a little more exciting.

You don’t need a gym

One reason as to why people tend to take up jogging as their first choice for exercise is because they aren’t registered at a gym and don’t have any equipment to work with from home. Don’t be fooled, there are endless possibilities to train at home using only your body weight and even a few items lying around in the house. Pick 4 or 6 movements and repeat them for 3 rounds at first. You can train tabata style where you set a timer for 30 seconds work and 30 seconds rest in the beginning until you progress to less rest time and more work time. You can Google body weight circuits or contact me for a program (click hereto view some ideas on my Facebook page), but I would 100% recommend doing this before going out for a jog your first week of training.

It can make you feel more accomplished

I know first hand how frustrating it is not to be able to jog for long periods of time without needing to rest and it can make you feel like a failure if you expected something different. For me, it then even starts to feel like I am never going to get better at this and I leave it again for a few weeks – which leads to me not getting better at it and every time, every few weeks that I attempt it, it feels too difficult. It’s a horrible cycle. This is where most people decide that exercising just isn’t for them and they couldn’t be more wrong. Strength training makes you feel like your body is capable of so much. You can very easily notice improvements fairly quickly with movements like push up, squats, lunges and so forth. Once you get through your first week you’ll already be able to notice changes in your second week and that will make you feel good and instill a feeling of wanting to accomplish even more.

Don’t worry about looking like a newbie with strength training

Another obstacle for you to start strength training might be because you don’t want to go to gym and look like you don’t know what you are doing. One thing you’ll quickly learn as a newbie at the gym – most people really don’t even notice others working out. They are truly only focused on getting through their own workout. Just walk into the weight section, put on some earphones and do your thing. If you aren’t sure how to do some of the movements you can ask the fitness instructors to give you a hand or book a session with a personal trainer to take you through a few of the exercises. You can also Google some tutorials to help you out. If you still don’t think you’ll be able to face strength training in front of others you can always get a mobile personal trainer to train you in the privacy of your own home.

Strength training isn’t the only solution

For me strength training is the method of training that got me to love working out, however, this is definitely not the only option out there. Each person needs to find what works for them – when something challenges you and makes you feel proud of what you are achieving you will stick to it. If you are a person who likes socializing then group workouts might be more your thing. Join a bootcamp, runner’s club, pilates class, step class, kickboxing, crossfit, yoga, MMA gym, TacFit, there are so many options to choose from. Try everything until you find what makes you happy and excited to exercise.

Our bodies are made to move so don’t think yours isn’t capable of getting fit, strong and lean. If you don’t have any medical reasons not to exercise it’s time to find your method of exercising that excites you. If jogging isn’t for you then stop trying to force it – go out and try something else. You will find something that you enjoy!